Celebrating success at the Marketplace

Celebrating success at the Marketplace

Aug 30, 2023 | Fundraising, News | 0 comments

A Kiwanis club in Arizona, U.S., invited the community to help mark a fundraising anniversary. 

By Tony Knoderer 

The Kiwanis Club of Carefree, Arizona, U.S., celebrated the ninth anniversary of its Kiwanis Marketplace with local business leaders on August 10. Located in the nearby town of Cave Creek, the Marketplace was the site of an event that the club cohosted with the Carefree Cave Creek Chamber of Commerce, which invited local business leaders to join the anniversary celebration. 

Kiwanis Marketplace itself is nine years old, but the Carefree Kiwanis Club has been raising funds by giving locals a place to shop, donate and volunteer for more than four decades. The idea originated in the early 1980s, when the club started fundraising with garage sales.  

“It actually started out in a two-car garage,” says Geno Orrico, a longtime club member, past president and current volunteer. 

The garage sales were a hit — so much so that the club was able to award its first scholarship in 1986 for US$500. 

Realizing the potential of these sales, the club struck a deal with the Town of Carefree in 1999 to build a 3,000-square-foot, US$100,000 building on town land with a 20-year lease.  

According to Alex Perez, general manager of Kiwanis Marketplace, the club eventually started raising money to buy land and build a new location. More than US$1.2 million had been raised, he says, when the perfect 18,000-square-foot building became available. The club purchased the building and opened what is now the Kiwanis Marketplace. 

“When it first started, there were zero employees and about 150 volunteers,” Perez says. “It was open four days a week for four hours a day, and it made just under a million dollars. Then it grew and grew — and now today there are 14 employees and around 100 volunteers that come and help. Last year we did over US$2.25 million in sales.” 

Orrico adds that many volunteers have been around since the beginning.  

“It gives you a sense of giving back to the community, and I think that goes for all the volunteers — they feel a sense of self-worth,” he says. “We also have some folks that come here every single day to see what treasures they can get.” 

Thanks to the funds from Kiwanis Marketplace, the Kiwanis Club of Carefree donated more than US$1.2 million last year, sponsoring local school programs, projects such as Family Fun Days at the Cave Creek Museum and renovations at Desert Foothills YMCA. The club has also given US$500,000 to the Kiwanis Scholarship Program in 2023. 

Kiwanis partner boosts literacy and language skills

Kiwanis partner boosts literacy and language skills

Aug 14, 2023 | Fundraising, Literacy | 1 comment

A matching grant from Reading Is Fundamental is helping one Kiwanis club expand its local books program.

By Tony Knoderer 

Together, education and literacy comprise one of the causes of Kiwanis International. Among the most ardent supporters of that cause is the Kiwanis Club of Kernersville, North Carolina, U.S.  

When awarded a matching grant of US$6,000 by Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) earlier this year, the club was able to expand the scope of its primary goal: to put books in the hands of as many children as possible.  

A Kiwanis partner, RIF awarded 90 matching grants to various organizations during its most recent grantmaking cycle. The grant to the Kiwanians in Kernersville is helping promote literacy — along with attendance, good behavior and multicultural opportunity — to a wider sector of its community. 

HEROs and Cape Crusaders
With the RIF grant, the club is expanding a pilot program that it’s currently conducting in Kernersville Elementary School. The club seeks to introduce the program to four additional schools during the upcoming school year. 

At Kernersville Elementary, students from each of the school’s grade levels (Kindergarten through fifth grade) are eligible to select a book from the Literacy Library bookcase in the school’s main hallway. Eligibility is subject to attendance and behavioral criteria: A student must either be designated as a HERO (Here, Every Day, Ready, On Time) or recognized by a teacher as a “Cape Crusader” for improved classroom behavior and citizenship.  

Each of the four additional schools will determine its own program criteria, and each Literacy Library bookcase will fit the school’s décor.  

In addition to the RIF grant, the Kernersville Kiwanis Club secured matching funds from local businesses and community members to build custom-made bookcases for each school. 
 
Getting parents involved
Kernersville Elementary School has 207 multi-lingual learners out of a student body of 660 students. In the district as a whole, nearly 15% of students are multi-lingual learners.  

The club shapes its service to the demographics of its area by including Spanish-language and bilingual books.  

In fact, the program will help promote English classes that some area schools hold for parents. The club will include a copy of RIF’s online Family Tip Sheet to encourage parents to read with their children — as well as a simple form for the parent to sign, indicating that the child read the book with them. At school, the child can exchange this form for a sticker that reads, “I Read a Book with My Family.”  

 

Club grants foster adaptive play

Club grants foster adaptive play

Aug 7, 2023 | Fundraising, Kiwanis Children's Fund | 1 comment

With Kiwanis Children’s Fund grants, three clubs are pursuing projects that make sure all kids have an equal chance to play.

By Erin Chandler 

Accessibility for all people, especially children, is a goal many Kiwanis clubs strive to achieve. Recently, the Kiwanis Children’s Fund awarded grants to three clubs that are working to make all kinds of play accessible for kids in their communities. Libraries and parks in these communities will now have toys and equipment adapted for children with physical, neurological and developmental differences. Each club consulted with experts and members of their communities to determine what would best serve kids and families. Young people everywhere deserve safe and fun ways to play, and these clubs found creative ways to fill that need. 

 The Children’s Fund makes grants that improve the lives of children around the world by identifying the projects that create a continuum of impact in a child’s life — one that spans their entire childhood and sets them up for a bright future. By funding projects that target the Kiwanis causes, whether through a Kiwanis Club’s local service project or through a club’s partner, the Children’s Fund ensures that its grantmaking has the greatest possible impact.   

If you are interested in extending your and your club’s impact beyond your community by giving to the Children’s Fund or applying for a club grant, visit the Kiwanis Children’s Fund page. [https://www.kiwanis.org/childrens-fund]   

Expand Toy Box Library
The Kiwanis Club of South Sioux Falls, South Dakota, U.S., is working with the Toy Lending Library of South Dakota to adapt their service for children with special needs. The organization stocks hundreds of toy boxes for children 5 and younger at local libraries, where the boxes can be checked out and returned. The club is stepping in to create 34 toy boxes for kids with physical or neurological differences, such as autism and visual or auditory impairments. To design the accessible boxes, club members consulted with experts, including professors of child development at Augustana University and parents of children with disabilities. A club grant from the Kiwanis Children’s Fund will help pay for special books and toys, which can be more expensive and difficult to find, as well as educational materials for caregivers. Club members will assemble the toy boxes and sanitize them on a regular basis. The club estimates that around 300 children will benefit from these toy boxes that are just for them. 

Kiwanis Sensory Music Garden
The Kiwanis Club of Bowling Green, Kentucky, U.S., consulted parents of children with special needs and adults with special needs in planning their club’s 100th anniversary project: a sensory music garden playground in Basil-Griffin Park, the most popular park in the county. The club found that of the 21 parks in the county, only one had equipment for children with special needs. The new sensory music garden playground’s eight structures will stimulate multiple senses to appeal to all children, especially those with physical, neurological and developmental differences. A grant from the Kiwanis Children’s Fund will help the club purchase three pieces of equipment from Landscape Structures: the Grandioso Chimes, Vivo Metallophone and Animato Metallophone. The club anticipates that thousands of children will be able to enjoy the sensory music garden’s sounds, textures and more. 

Anniversary Playground Project
For their club’s 100th anniversary, the Kiwanis Club of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S., is also working to make local parks more accessible for children of all abilities. With help from a Kiwanis Children’s Fund grant, the club will install handicap-accessible signs and merry-go-rounds at six community parks. They will also install a pavilion at Helen Amhurst Park for park-goers to have parties and picnics while enjoying the new playground equipment. The club and members of their Service Leadership Programs clubs will be involved in maintaining the facilities so that future generations will also be able to play and have fun. 

How you can help
The Kiwanis Children’s Fund amplifies Kiwanians’ impact to reach children around the world through the Kiwanis causes of health and nutrition, education and literacy and youth leadership development. Make a gift or learn how your club can apply for a grant to help kids in your community.